After years of planning and excitement, Symphony of the Seas has arrived in Miami and that means time for my cruise onboard.
The night before, I drove down to Boca Raton from Orlando, Florida to help break up the three and a half hour drive. The morning of the cruise, I woke up far too early (I was just too excited to sleep) and drove down to Miami to get going.
I had rented a car, so I returned the car at the Budget office that was fairly close to PortMiami. I got to the office around 8:30am and as I expected, there was lots of people there who were picking up a car following their cruise ending. Luckily, the return process was super simple and it only took me a few minutes. They did offer a shuttle that brought me to the port.
I got to Terminal A at PortMiami far too early, but I figured I would rather wait there than my hotel room or on the highway in traffic. The doors were closed until about 9:30am, at which point check-in began.
The check-in process at Terminal A was extremely easy. I used the Royal Caribbean App’s digital set sail pass. There was a line of port agents who expedited the check-in process, followed by a standard security screening. It was easy, fast and well-run considering it was their first few times actually doing this.
Terminal A is beautiful, and frankly a pleasure to be in. Every cruiser I talked to spoke so highly of the beautiful nature of the new cruise terminal. I think we were all impressed by the beauty of the building, and pleasantly surprised by the fact this cruise terminal was fundamentally different than any other cruise terminal we had ever been in before.
The boarding process began right around 11am and getting onboard Symphony I was so excited to see the ship I had read, heard and seen so much about.
The ship looked amazing and this being my first Oasis Class cruise ship in over a year, I had almost forgotten just how impressive and dynamic a ship of this size can be.
They were serving complimentary champagne to everyone boarding the ship, which was the first of many ways Royal Caribbean was celebrating the arrival of Symphony of the Seas to North America.
As is tradition for myself, my first stop was embarkation day lunch in the Windjammer.
Properly fed, I started exploring Symphony of the Seas and walked the ship. Naturally, my exploring of the ship may have coincided with some bar hopping.
I managed to exchange an old WOWband for a new one (I had an old WOWband from a previous Royal Caribbean cruise). Something different about this WOWband is the muster station is not marked on the band. The WOWband sale location was in Boleros.
At 1pm the staterooms were ready. On this sailing, I am staying in a Central Park balcony room. I have stayed in this category of stateroom on multiple occasions, and I really enjoy it.
I had the 3-night dining package on this sailing, so I also went to make reservations for dining. I found it a bit more difficult than on other sailings I have been on to get a reservation. It seemed like a lot of guests had booked specialty dining on this sailing. We managed to get reservations, but not at our first choices of times.
Following muster drill, it was time to head up to the pool deck for sailaway. Our sailaway was a bit later than usual, for a very good reason that I will get to in a moment. To start off, we enjoyed a picture perfect sunset over Miami.
At 6pm, it was time for another celebration of Symphony’s arrival, with a special fireworks send off.
We remained docked at Terminal A as the Miami Fire Department saluted the ship.
Then, it was time for an amazing fireworks spectacular. The show must have lasted around 10 minutes and I loved every minute of it.
At last, it was time to sail away from Miami.
Dinner tonight was in Izumi, and it was a fantastic meal. Some of the best sushi I have had in recent memory.
Following dinner, it was time to party and enjoy our first night onboard.
At midnight, there was a balloon drop on the Royal Promenade, which was a lot of fun.
Tomorrow is a sea day and that means lots more exploring!
Stray Observations
- All guests were given a complimentary Symphony of the Seas inaugural season hat.
- There are a few pieces of art in the stairway that have a three dimensional look to them, and they are very interesting and also a bit trippy to look at.
- This is the first cruise I have been on with the no plastic straws or stirrers policy in place. Paper straws all around.
